9 Ways to Show Love to Your Website Visitors
Paul Steinbrueck

I’ve written in previously that the old website adage “content is not king” is not true. Relationships are king. And because relationships are king, it’s important that we show some love to our website visitors. We can do this both in the way we design our website and the content we include on them.  So, here are 9 ways to show love to your website visitors:

1) Make it about them. Instead of promoting your agenda, write your copy so it tells your visitors how you can help them.

2) Get to the point. Don’t waste your visitors’ time by rambling. They won’t read it anyway.

3) Use inclusive language. Don’t use language, terms and acronyms only people inside your organization understand. It’s a good idea to get feedback from people outside your organization on a regular basis to be sure.

4) Make your text simple and readable. Don’t use multiple fonts and colors and make your visitors want to scratch their eyes out. Don’t shout at your readers with lots of bold and oversized text.

5) Include a friendly welcome video on your homepage.

6) Publish pictures, videos and stories from your clients, members, students, etc. (with their permission). This tells people who they are and what they do really matters.

7) Do usability testing. Usability testing is where you ask people who have never seen your site to view your site, try to accomplish certain tasks, and provide feedback while you observe them interacting with your site. Usability testing shows you where there is confusion and barriers on your site and enables you to fix those things.

8) Engage. Ask questions and provide opportunities for your visitors to interact and share ideas. Listen. Whether it’s done on your website, blog, Facebook, Twitter, or elsewhere, this shows you value your visitors’ ideas and opinions.

9) Be useful. Add useful functionality to your website that will save your visitors time, things such as online registration for events, online payment of donations and fees, and common forms and documents.

When you show love to your website visitors, they love you back. They interact with you, they buy your products or services and they come back to your site. How are you showing love to your website visitors?

This article “9 Ways to Show Love to Your Website Visitors” by Paul Steinbrueck was excerpted from: www.paulsteinbrueck.com website. Used by permission. October 2011. It may be used for study & research purposes only.

This article may not be written by an Apostolic author, but it contains many excellent principles and concepts that can be adapted to most churches. As the old saying goes “Eat the meat. Throw away the bones.”